[NA-Discuss] The self-nomination of Eric Brunner-Williams for NARALO Chair

[Eric Brunner-Williams]

Colleagues,

Having described the changes I propose to make in travel support
allocation for the purpose of improving on the rather limited record
of enabling informed contribution to policy making by individuals, I
want to direct your thoughts to advice offered the Corporation Board.

The Corporation Board has recently authorized the President and CEO to
make commitments concerning offices, staff and future meeting venues.
One of the commitments made concerns placing staff permanently, and
the attendees of future general meetings recurringly, in Turkey.

The current leaders of the Executive Branch of that state are
conducting the affairs of that state in a way that appears to be
contrary to the principle of enabling informed individual
participation in, amongst other things, network policy.

This RALO may wish to advise the Board to explore alternatives which
meet the goal for which Istanbul was selected, and do not also risk
harm to the purpose for which the ByLaws were amended in 2004,
creating an advisory entity on issues relating to individual users of
unique endpoint identifiers.

Recently also one of the governments in this region has disclosed that
it has engaged in, and is committed to the continuous engagement in,
unprecedented, outside of now-historic totalitarian regimes,
collection of all electronic communications, both session state, and
content, which are within its technical means, which, given what we
are in a position to know, as participants in the technical
coordination of unique network endpoint identifiers, is all of this
region's and most inter-regional instances of communication.

This RALO may wish to advise the Board that the actions of this
government place the stability and security of the continuous exercise
of technical coordination of unique endpoint identifiers by the
Corporation as presently constituted as a California domiciled
501(c)(3) exercising a contract awarded by that government in doubt,
and render the thesis advanced recently for the limited role of the
ITU in network policy significantly less compelling.

There are of course the issues which arise from the ordinary execution
 by the GNSO, the GAC, the SSAC, the ASO, the ccNSO, the RSSAC, and
the ALAC for which the RALO has the opportunity to determine if formal
advice, or informal comment, is appropriate, and what advice or
comment to advance. I propose to make this process less haphazard, and
improve the communication of issues to the four RALOs, and ensure that
the instructions to the ALAC from the body of the RALO are
communicated faithfully, and that the reports from the ALAC to the
body of the RALO are timely, complete and in writing.

Again, these are proposals for change, contingent upon election.

Eric Brunner-Williams
Eugene, Oregon